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Venerable TI-84 calculator may finally get a color screen

TI-84  C Silver
The TI-84 C SilverCemetech

If you took a calculus class in the last 20 years, chances are you used a graphing calculator at some point, possibly one of Texas Instruments' TI- devices. The classic series has at last entered the 21st (some would say 20th) century with a brand new color screen.

Graphing calculators have somehow managed to avoid progress in the screen department. Despite the many benefits a color screen brings to displaying graphs and functions, the popular models from TI and Casio remained monochrome for years.

Casio's first color calculator arrived in early 2011, and TI introduced a new line called the Nspire CX later that year, but the classic TI series seemed to be left behind. But there were rumors of a full-color TI-84 device, and now the company has started lending color devices out to classrooms to test.

The TI-84+ C Silver performs the usual graphing functions, and a user at the Cemetech calculator forums, where the device first showed up, reports that not much has changed. That said, it has a higher display resolution than the old TI-84+ and of course the color screen will be useful for distinguishing lines, axes, variables and other important data.

There's no word on pricing or availability, though if the devices are being lent out they are likely in a nearly finished form.

— via Ars Technica

Devin Coldewey is a contributing writer for NBC News Digital. His personal website is coldewey.cc.